Adjustable skirt construction



April 1953 E. E. GILLESPIE ETAL 2,635,180

ADJUSTABLE SKIRT CONSTRUCTION Filed NOV. 29, 1949 E'r' EL. E. GILLES-IE IN V EN TOR.

B Arr-Y Patented Apr. 28, 1953 ,ADJilSTABIiE-SKIBT CUNSTRUCTIONL ntiiel E..-'Gillspie and Jeen E-rGmespi-e;

Eortland, Greg. a i

Application November 29, 1949, Serial No. 129,962

1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in the construction of wearing apparel and more especially to womens skirts, slacks and the like.

Ordinarily, skirts and other types of garments are made up of front, rear and sometimes side panels, joined together by a single row of stitching. In order to enlarge or let-out the waist line or other sections of the garment, it is necessary to remove the stitching and re-sew the panels together along a newly folded-over marginal portion of less width than the original. Ordinarily this enlarging operation requires considerable time and labor on the part of a skilled seamstress.

Accordingly, it is one of the principal objects of the invention to provide new and novel means in the form of parallel rows of stitching arranged at equidistant spaced apart intervals in the direction of the circumference of the belt line of the skirt or garment to which the invention is applied whereby an unskilled person may enlarge the garment as aforesaid accurately and uniformly throughout its circumference in a minimum amount of time.

Another object is the provision of a belt or waistband made in extensible overlapping sections and provided with fastening elements spaced apart at distances equal to twice the spacing of said rows of stitching to not only serve as a guide in adjusting the sections of the belt with respect to each other, but also as a guide in determining the amount of enlargement to be accomplished.

These and other objects will appear as our invention is more fully hereinafter described in the following specifications illustrated in the accompanying drawing and finally pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawing the figure is a perspective View of a womans skirt or other garment made in accordance with our invention.

As illustrated in the drawing, a skirt is ordinarily made up of front, rear and two side panels indicated at I, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Ordinarily the panels are stitched together by a single row of stitchingthroughout the length of their marginal edges which are folded over on themselves as generally indicated at 5, and commonly referred to as seams.

In our invention" the said panels of the skirt are joined together by any desired number of spaced apart rows of stitches indicated at 6 running full length of the overlapping and joined marginal edges of adjacent panels.

In one embodiment of the invention the marginal edges 1 of both side panels are folded back on themselves as at 8 a sufficient distance to accommodate the rows of stitching 6. The distance between each row of stitches determines the amount the skirt may be let out or expanded as each row of stiching is progressively cut from one to the next as shown. For example, the first row of stitching is being cut by a razor blade or the like, as shown, to detach the folded over marginal portion of the panel 3 from the panel I so that the marginal edge of the side panel 3 may be folded back and pressed along the second row of stitching.

The top edges of the front, rear, and side panels of the skirt are secured to an extensible waist band or belt, generally indicated at 9, including a central section It! over which the ends of the belt extend for attachment thereto by means of snap fasteners having one of their parts ll secured to the center section and their other parts l2 secured to the ends of the belt as shown. The spacing between each of the snap fasteners is equal to twice the space between the rows of stitches 6, for the purpose of positioning the snap fastener element I 2A in alignment for attachment to a companion element HA when a garment is enlarged or let out the distance between two rows of stitches by cutting one row as shown in the figure. The marginal edge portion 3A of the panel 3 is equal to the distance between the two rows of stitches and is doubled back on the panel 3 as shown.

It is to be understood that any desired type of stitching may be used, including a chain stitch where a colored thread may be extended through it for convenience in removing the rows of stitches.

While we have shown a particular form of embodiment of our invention, we are aware that many minor changes therein will readily suggest themselves to others skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

A garment of the character described comprising in combination diametrically opposed front and rear panels and two diametrically opposed. side panels all of the same material, said front panel being of greater widththan the rear panel," all of said panels being joined together throughout their length, a center belt section secured to the top edge of said front panel and formed with extended end portions, a belt secured to the top edge of said side and rear 3 panels and having extended end portions adapted to overlie said center belt section, a plurality of spaced-apart and cooperating fastening elements secured to the extended end portions of said belt and to said center belt section, one longitudinal edge of each of said side panels being folded inwardly on itself, said inwardly folded portions being secured to said front panel by a plurality of parallel rows of stitching extending throughout the entire length thereof, the spacing between said fastening elements being equal to twice the distance between said rows of stitching whereby said garment may be expanded circumferentially by progressively severing said rows of stitches, and whereby when so expanded the overlapping extended end portions of said belt and said center belt section may be attached to each other by means of said spaced-apart cooperating fastening elements.

ETHEL E. GILLESPIE.

5 JEAN E. GILLESPIE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 Number Name Date 947,479 Cohn Jan. 25, 1910 1,000,155 Dietz Aug. 8, 1911 1,104,437 Miles July 21, 1914 2,021,711 Abrams Nov. 19, 1935 15 2,140,221 Cornish Dec. 13, 1938 2,272,017 Mahoney Feb. 3, 1942 

